Not As Good
by Orange Purse
Summary: Danny's home life was always less than stellar and his school life wasn't that better. When he's offered a chance to leave all of it behind, he jumps on it. After years of being 'missing', he has to return home and deal with the consequences of leaving everything behind. Vlad and Danny Father/Son fic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Vlad and Danny father/son fic. AU.

* * *

In pre-k it was recognized that Jazz was learning faster than her classmates. Others were learning their ABCs and not only could Jazz recite it backwards better than her teachers, but she was reading.

A test was taken and for kindergarten, she went to a new schools designed for much above average students. After a few more tests she was able to skip a grade if she wanted. However, the Fentons turned it down, thinking it would be better for Jazz to be around kids her own age.

Jazz was given numerous prizes and rewards for her excellent in math and reading. She and her parents attended ceremony after ceremony for her and children like her. None of those were ever missed, as well as Jazz's performances in her interest of the week, whether it be music, art, ballet, anything. Jazz could flourish in nearly everything, so the Fentons made sure to give her the best learning environment. Jazz was one of the best and she should get the best.

* * *

"Daddy?" Danny called out. He was pushed by some mean kid when he was walking outside of his house while looking for something to do. His knee had started bleeding.

He didn't hear a response, but he heard muffled speaking and pictures being taken in the next room over.

He strained his ears and heard his mom.

"Oh dear, you look so gorgeous! You'll make the most perfect fairy godmother!" Then Danny heard even more pictures being taken.

More praise, both from his mother and father, and then his mom said that they were going to be late.

"I'll drive, okay? I want our princess' day to be perfect."

"Sure, Maddie. Here's the keys."

Jingling and he saw his parents and sister rush out of the house. A locking sound and the engine of the car confirmed that they had left.

"Daddy," Danny whispered, wiping some of the blood off his pants. "My knee's bleeding. It hurts."

* * *

Danny remembered where the first-aid kit was from when Jazz fell on the sidewalk; underneath the sink.

It was easy to unhook the small door and get the first-aid kit out.

He opened the box and looked inside. He didn't know what most of the things were, but he recognized two right away. The bandages and the acky pads. Danny looked at those with suspicion. Jazz had said they hurt her a lot, but Mom explained that she needs to use the acky pads to make sure that her arm didn't get more hurt.

Danny didn't want to use the acky pad because Jazz said it burned, but he didn't want to get more hurt either. Remembering Mom's words – "It's better to hurt for a little than for a lot." – Danny ripped open one of the acky pads and wiped his knee with it.

Danny hissed in pain. It felt bad, but not that bad, so Danny just kept on wiping his knee. After he decided that all the blood was gone, Danny put on a bandage on his knee.

There was no one to kiss it, but Danny knew that wasn't important to making his knee better. Mom said it did, but he had gotten better without kisses before.

* * *

A few hours later Danny realized that no one was coming home until late.

He was supposed to go to sleep at eight, but it was already seven and he was hungry. Not hungry where he just wanted a snack, hungry like it was time for dinner and his stomach was making noises.

Danny knew that cereal was for breakfast, but he didn't know anything else he could eat, so he got a chair and went to get a cardboard, as well as a bowl and spoon.

He had to put the bowl on the floor because he couldn't carry the milk to the table. Mom said that you should always eat at the table, but he couldn't. So he ate on the floor.

It was when Danny was putting the bowl and spoon in the dish washer he realized that not all of the rules were right. Some had to be broken.

Danny wondered which ones had to be broken.

* * *

Some days, Danny missed when his parents would almost completely ignore him. They were too busy with Jazz and all her things, but now Danny had things of his own. Well, things that are his because they were Jazz's to.

Like the tests. He was in pre-k with a nice teacher, but his parents wanted him to try for the same school as Jazz.

"So, he can't go?" his mom asked.

"No," said the older woman in the other side of the big desk. Danny wished that she would finish speaking faster – he just wanted to go back home and away from this huge school. He liked the other school better. It was smaller and didn't have the weird word pictures on the wall.

"Don't worry," said the woman. "Not everyone in a family end up being the same. I'm sure your son is a perfectly good student – his test score proves it – but he just is not the type of student we have in this school. Every child is different, as I'm sure you know."

His dad started talking and Danny stopped listening after his dad said something to him.

"I guess you're just not up to par like Jazz."

* * *

Whenever Danny did something, his parents would subtly compare to Jazz. They would make remarks like, 'Jazz did this twice as fast,' or 'Jazz could do this better.' They would cover it up with other things like 'Try your best,' and 'Everyone has their own pace.'

Danny knew that they didn't mean that. Danny knew he wasn't as good as Jazz.

It was obvious; Jazz got 100s and Danny got 80s or 90s. Jazz would get rewards for being so good at math, Danny got ones for helping the teacher erase the board.

But sometimes Danny wished it wasn't as obvious. It hurt when Jazz would make their parents eyes shine with pride as their eldest managed another feat and for him, it was just a small nod of approval.

So when his parents went back to putting all their attention on Jazz, Danny said nothing. After all, he was more glad about it than anything.

It was easier deal with being ignored than being compared.

* * *

**A/N: **This is probably going to be my first long fic for DP, or for any in general. I know it's not the best, but I like it. Something personal about it, since I'm the lesser sibling to a smart sister. Also, for all you doubting that Danny's parents would do this, trust me when I say that in these situations parents say careless things that stick for a long time. Point out any mistakes/huge plot holes/anything. Sorry for the short sections, I just write like that. Review and tell me what you think. I'll try to update this around every other week or so. Also, I'm on a roll. Exams make me write ten times more than usual.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny was, grades-wise, an average student.

He did his work without complaint, listened to his teacher for the most part, had his homework nearly every day, and knew his ABCs well with only a few pauses in between certain letters.

It could be said that Danny was on the higher end of an average student, but nevertheless, Danny was just an average student, grades-wise.

It was when the focus was taken away from grades that Danny was not an average student.

Every event in a young child's life affects them since there are so little. Every one connects to anything. A completely unrelated thing in a different environment can affect how a child acts in another place. For Danny, it did just that. It would never be surprising that Danny's home life affect his school one. The behaviors were no different from each other, like it is for so many other children. Danny was young and the concept of having two different personalities didn't occur to him – that would come later. At this time, it didn't make sense to Danny to have different ones.

After the short period of time when he did get attention passed, Danny knew from then on that he needed to be ignored. It was the only way he knew how to function, the only way he could function. So the need to be ignored transferred into school, Danny unknowing.

So Danny was not 'shy.'

Shy was when someone had trouble talking in public, to strangers – when one was not willing to make new friends and spoke only when spoken to. Shy was hiding your face with your hair so people couldn't see you. Granted, Danny did some of these things, but he was not just 'shy.'

Shyness could be overcome eventually by caring teachers and new friends. What Danny had could never be overcome by those things, with nice words. It ran much deeper than being tongue-tied.

Danny hid his face, but not mainly with his hair. The bangs covering his eyes were only an after effect of a habit Danny developed.

No, he hid himself with the way he held his body.

* * *

The first day of school consisted mainly of learning names and getting seats, ones for the rest of the year unless you get into trouble.

After the initial attendance, the teacher had everyone come to the front of the room and say their name along with a bit of information about themselves.

Some students were loud and happy to do so; some even had to be told to let someone else talk. Others were quiet and spoke only when the teacher insisted on them. But all were in the front of the room and called on by the teacher.

Expect for Danny.

The teacher looked over the children once more to seat them and noticed Danny in the corner, who she had nearly skipped over.

Danny held himself as small as possible, nearly disappearing into the corner, and had his head facing directly to the ground.

The teacher asked for his name and Danny said his name to his feet; only his name, no favorite color or most important toy.

The teacher was too busy punishing herself in her head for nearly forgetting a student to notice Danny being too quiet.

* * *

Dash Baxter was an average student, grades-wise, like Danny. Unlike Danny, Dash teetered on the line between average student and bad student. His homework would be 'lost' more often than not and the times when he listened to the teacher were rare.

However, his family's reputation helped make sure that Dash never made the jump between average and bad.

It goes without saying that Dash was only average when it was grades-wise.

Dash's father held a high position of power at one of the major companies in Amity Park, a company that employed many in the town. As Dash was the only child, his parents' world revolved around him. An unhappy Dash meant an unhappy Mr. Baxter, which nobody wanted.

With his parents' world being about Dash, he came under the impression that the whole world was only for him. It was supported when the other kids in his class would listen to him without a single complaint, though the kids only did so under the instructions of their parents.

Needless to say, Dash became the leader of his grade.

The older children didn't clip him behind the ear or mess up his hair like they might with another little kid as arrogant as Dash because everyone knew not to mess with anyone with the last name Baxter.

Well, almost everyone. No one in Danny's family worked under Mr. Baxter, so the name had no meaning to him. It didn't call for any more attention than anyone else.

Danny knew that Dash was the biggest kid in his class and that everyone listened to him, but that didn't matter to him. Dash wasn't important and neither was anyone else. He was just another person to keep away from; nothing more, nothing less.

Dash didn't take well to that. He was very much used to getting all the attention, from parents, family, friends, teachers, everyone. No one ignored him, except for Danny.

Not getting all the attention, even from Danny Fenton, was unacceptable.

So Danny Fenton became unacceptable.

* * *

Danny was sitting at his table. There were twenty-nine students in his class, so he sat alone at the table meant for four. His teacher gave him a pitying smile when it ended up like that, but he didn't mind.

He already knew what he had to do. It was the same as it was at home. Be ignored.

The table just helped his job. It was easier to be ignored if there was no one to pay attention to you.

Danny was drawing at his table because it was play time. Everyone was allowed to do what they wanted, as long as the teacher approved. Danny did like drawing, but the main reason he was drawing wasn't because he liked it.

The main reason was that there were other kids on the rug playing with the toys, more at the finger painting station with the teacher, and there was even a boy in the reading section.

Play time was the most fun when there was no one around. Danny knew because Jazz's friends were always over and playing with her toys and using her crayons and not putting them back in the right spot. She would cry to their parents about it after her friends left, but they would just swing her around and promise her ice cream for being such a good playmate.

Danny was very happy to stay at his table and use the blue crayon to color the lake that his family had visited last year. It was really pretty and even though Danny got a cut after stepping on broken glass while his parents were helping his sister learn how to swim, it was still a very nice day.

When Danny started looking for a crayon to color the sand, another boy came over who was being followed by some other kids.

"Hey!" the bigger boy yelled. Danny found the right color in the box of sixty-four crayons that the teacher had given him. He was certain the boy wasn't talking to him. That boy always had a lot of people to talk to, so why would he even look at Danny? Satisfied with the logic, Danny pressed on the paper with the crayon, letting the color onto it.

"Hey, you!" the boy yelled again. Danny pressed harder onto the paper and tried to ignore the boy. It was becoming increasingly difficult as the boy yelled once more.

And then the boy was right next to him, pulling his arm which made Danny drop his crayon.

"What's wrong with you?" asked the older boy.

Danny gave him a glance before picking up his crayon. He was nearly done with coloring the sand. After that he could do the sun. Then he would be finished and he could keep it underneath his bed, along with all his other pictures.

"Listen to me!" screamed the boy. It caught the attention of the teacher, who left the kids alone to finger paint. Her small heels make clicking noises as she rushed over to the boy.

"What's going on here?" asked the teacher.

Dash took on an innocent face, completely different from the angry one he had just a few seconds ago. Danny was more intrigued with the change than with the teacher. Danny usually had a look of indifference in his face, so he didn't have to change it often. It was amazing how someone could go from one look to another so quickly.

"He's not being nice!" Dash sniffled and wiped fake tears from his cheek. "He's not sharing the crayons and I wanna draw."

Confusion swirled around Danny. Dash never asked him for anything. Well, he asked what was wrong with him. But he didn't say anything about crayons.

"Danny, you have to share," the teacher said. "Now go to the time-out corner for five minutes. If you can't share, you can't play."

With the teacher facing Danny, Dash took the opportunity to stick his tongue out.

Danny walked to the time-out corner with the teacher hushing him each time Danny tried to talk. He finally settled on biting his lip, making it bleed, instead of letting his anger get the best of him. The teacher ignored him. He was used to that. She would always forget to call on him during story time and never ask him to read aloud and Danny began to like her.

But he wasn't used to Dash.

Dash lied. Why would Dash lie? Danny never did anything to Dash. He left him alone, completely alone. He never spoke to him, had never been mean to him. So what reason would Dash have to lie?

He was thinking in the time-out corner, like the teacher told him to. While facing the corner of the wall, he finished thinking. He had come to a realization.

People would hurt you for no reason.

* * *

**A/N: **Second chapter, edited by the wonderful Fluehatraya. Sorry the horrible grammar in the previous one. I was really pissed at this chapter (still am) and if I didn't get it out then, it would probably be unfinished. I kind to rewrite everything a lot. Hopefully, this is better, grammatically. Point out any me or Fluehatraya missed. And don't be afraid to be mean to me. I know some of my writings had bad grammar. Oh yeah, thanks to everyone that reviewed/story alert/favorite/something. It makes me happy. Any questions will be answered next chapter, probably, unless it would be a huge spoiler. Then it won't be.


	3. Chapter 3

Next period was lunch for Danny, so he took a stop at his locker to trade out the books for his early classes for the three after lunch.

Danny still wasn't over the novelty of having a locker, even though he has been in high school for a month already. It was surprising how he put in his math notebook and Spanish textbook and took out his binder for science and English as well as his notebook for Global history. He wasn't used to having something other than a closet to put his things in. High school was a new experience to say the least.

As well being at the same school as Jazz. His sister begged their parents to send her to public school. Their parents couldn't understand why she would want to go to public school, but she was their princess, so she goes to the same school that Danny is going to.

Yep, it was a whole new experience for him.

Something grabbed Danny from behind and shoved him into his locker fast enough that Danny didn't have a second to think. He looked out the small area of his locker to see Dash.

"See you later Fenturd!" Dash called out. Unsurprising. It was always Dash.

Laughter came from him and his cronies. Danny bit his lip to keep back his anger. He didn't have a quick temper but Dash was enough that even the kindest person would be clenching their fists. Danny couldn't fight back so all he could do was bit his lip and dig his nails into his palms until they both bled.

The jocks left and the moment Danny couldn't hear their footsteps anymore, the locker door opened.

He just managed to turn backwards so his back got the majority of the pain. His back was hurt but it was less than his head would if he landed face first.

"Sorry dude," an extremely familiar voice said. Danny looked up to see Tucker looking down at him sheepishly.

They've been in the same class since kindergarten. Danny kept his distance from Tucker even when the darker boy would try to become friends. Tucker eventually stopped, but they did have a mutual problem of being bullied by Dash, though Danny did get the brute of it. They were far from friends, but this wasn't the first time Tucker had got Danny out of a locker and Danny had helped Tucker out when he was pushed into a trash can and none of his tech friends were around.

Danny and Tucker came to an understanding.

"Thanks," Danny said while grabbing his books on the floor. He gave a small nod before leaving for the cafeteria.

Tucker went the same way but joined with his friends instead and got into a serious discussion about the newest gadget that just came out. Danny didn't know what it was and wasn't interested in knowing. He just walked to lunch to eat and then he would sneak into some unknown corner of the field in the back. Same plan as every other day.

* * *

Danny opened the door and saw Mr. Lancer staring at the door. The teacher nodded and Danny knew that he wasn't late. Danny gave a sigh – Mr. Lancer was one of the stricter teachers when it came to being tardy. He made it to his sit just as the late bell rang.

Mr. Lancer closed the door right after the bell rang. He began the lesson which happened the story the class just read, 'Flowers for Algernon.' It took weeks to read the short story because of idiotic students unable to grasp the idea of science fiction and why the main character wasn't completely happy with being a genius. Luckily they read only the short story. The novel, which Danny read last week, was great but some of the topics would be too much for some of his classmates.

Danny looked to Sam, the goth girl who sat next to him for a lack of seats and a lack of friends, and knew he was in for a long lesson when he saw the name of her report.

It was not surprising that she had a paper in front of her that was blankly labeled 'Rights for Algernon.' While the title was a good spin off of the title of the book, it was still unrelated to the actual book.

She would take a huge amount of time just talking about animal rights. Danny was all for treating animals humanely and everything, but this would be way too much.

He was proven right Mr. Lancer called on Sam about her thoughts on the books an she went into a huge speech about how there should not be any testing on animals.

"That is... very interesting, Samantha," Mr. Lancer said at the end. Danny hid a smirk behind his hand as he looked at proud face of the goth and then at Mr Lancer's confused one.

The speech was not so bad, but it was not about the book in anyway, not to mention it took way too long.

When Danny heard some of the responses of the other kids, he decided it was a good thing that the goth girl took way too long. If Dash's response hadn't been cut off by the bell, Danny might have hit his head against the table. Repeatedly.

* * *

Danny managed to avoid Dash for the rest of the school day and went home before Dash could catch him afterschool.

When he finally got in the safety distance of his home, he slowed down. His mind traveled to his parents as he was walking.

They've recently tried to make a passage into the ghost world. 'Ghost portal' is what they called it. A few days ago they finally finished the project. They even gathered him and his sister to see it. They plugged it in with looks of pride in their faces. But it hadn't work.

They were so certain of this portal, so had happened? His parents just gave up. They didn't even bother trying to look for what was wrong. The only thing his parents ever gave up on was him.

Danny went inside the building sporting the neon green 'Fenton' sign and decided to check the only other thing his parents gave up on. They had something in common and there would be no harm in looking at it.

He made a quick dash upstairs to get the hazmat suit his parents got him that summer. Danny expressed an interest in ghosts and his parents gave him all their attention for a week. The uncomfortableness he felt squished any chance Danny had of going into the ghost business. Well, he would always be more interested in stars than on things that might or might not exist.

While walking down into the lab, Danny took off his dad's face on the suit. Danny had to wonder what his parents were thinking when they got him the suit. It was pretty decent – better than his father's orange one or his mother's – but why would he want his dad on his chest? Another mystery of his parents.

When he finally reached the basement, he started to change into the hazmat suit. His parents gave him instructions to be careful when around ectoplasm. The side-effects were never studied thoroughly, so there could many that aren't known.

He looked into the 'ghost portal' that his parents made. Months went into the project, every missed meal a step closer to getting to the other side. They had gave nearly all their time to the portal that should work. There wasn't a chance of it not working.

Danny just had to see what was causing his parents to hole up in their room for the last few days. Even Jazz got the silent treatment, though they did come out once to make sure their kids weren't starving.

He stepped into the metal surface while finishing zippering up the suit. Danny put his other hand on the wall of the portal to keep his balance. He felt his hand press a button and Danny looked at it to see he just pushed the green one. Danny just let go of his zipper when a flash of green attacked him.

A fire was eating him from the inside out. He thought he could feel his skin melting away. The next second Danny was being pushed out of the green glob and ice started taking over his body. As Danny's body became a mixture of burning heat – so hot, it was melting his bones – and cool ice – freezing his body into a icicle – he fell unconscious.

He woke with a start with only a cool feeling covering his body. It was numbing the pain in his back. Danny was certain that was from the violent push he got back into his parent's lab.

He pulled himself up with his brain still blurry. He could feel a slight pain in the back of his head, but Dash has given him worse, so Danny didn't care much for that.

Then he realized white gloves were pulling him up. Danny's mind couldn't process that, but it did understand that Danny had white hair and green eyes. He was wearing a black hazmat suit, a complete opposite of his real one.

Shock was all Danny could feel. Danny stared at himself in the mirror until he couldn't.

No, Danny couldn't see himself anymore. He could feel his body, but he couldn't see it. He waved his hand in front of him. He felt his hand moving side to side but he couldn't see it.

Danny became visible to himself again. His body was still tense and nervous but Danny let out a sigh of relief that was blue as his face came back into view.

The moment of relief was gone the moment Danny and so did the confusion of having blue breath when he saw two green octopuses floating in the mirror right in front of the –

Where there should be a metal non-working portal was a green screen instead. Was this was what his parents working for?

Was this the ghost zone?

Danny didn't get a chance to think about too much because the green creatures decided to fly straight at him.

There was no thoughts crossing his mind. It was just empty and he let his natural instincts lead him. He began fighting with the two ghosts.

Wait, the things he was fighting was ghosts. His parents aren't so crazy after all. Turns out there really ghosts and monsters and why did his parents want them to get out?

In his moment of thought the two ghosts managed to push him against the wall. Danny braced himself, ready to feel his back to feel the pain of the cold wall.

But it never came.

_He fell through the wall._

It was all so confusing, but there were still ghosts on the other side of the wall to fight, so Danny ran back into the wall.

He was gasping as he was again face to face with the two ghosts. Not out of exhaustion, out of excitement. He could walk through walls. How was that possible?

Dodging another hit from one of the ghosts and Danny decided to let his instincts take over again. He jumped into the air so the ground shot the ghost took would miss. It just happened that he never came down.

He could fly.

Danny tried to see if he could disappear from sight again. He smirked as the two ghosts looked around for him.

He flew straight at the ghosts, turning visible right before he grabbed them. One was in each of his hands and Danny threw them into the green hole.

Adrenaline was running through his body. The fight was only a few minutes, but it was some of the best minutes of his life. He could feel the blood running through his whole body, his breathing, which didn't seem necessary right now, was much heavier than it ever was before.

So much of the tension in Danny that was just boiling up was gone. The pain of Dash's punches, the ignorance of his parents, his sister's stupid overbearing behavior she developed in the last few years, all of that left him when he went back through the wall into his parent's lab.

It was just gone.

Danny landing onto the ground and back to his feet before looking at the mirror again.

His hair reminded him of clouds and his eyes were a glowing green. His HAZMAT suit was black instead of white now. He was wearing white gloves.

The foreign green eyes stared back at him. His were blue, not the same green as the now working ghost portal.

Was he a ghost now?

Maybe he died when he activated the ghost portal. Was this death? Danny didn't feel too different, only relived of some tension and a bit lighter on his feet.

Would being a ghost be so bad? His parents were ghost hunters, but that won't deter him from doing whatever ghosts do. He would just have to leave. That's all. He was planning on doing that in four years, so this would just speed up his plans a bit.

But being a human... Was Danny one or not? What has happened to his black hair and blue eyes?

White rings appeared as Danny wanted to be human just once more again.

And then his black hair and blue eyes were back. He was wearing his white hazmat suit again.

So was he human again?

Maybe the powers were a one time thing. The portal could have temporary changed him. It could have given him ghost powers.

Danny decided to stop thinking about how for a moment and what had just happened.

He went inside the ghost portal. He pushed a button, probably the on one, and went into pain. He black out. He woke up and saw that he was a ghost, or at least had temporary ghost powers. He fought some ghosts. He looked at the mirror. He wanted to be human again for a moment and then white rings made him human again.

There was a chance that the ghost powers weren't temporary. Maybe Danny managed to cut them off when he wanted to go back to being human.

"I want to be a ghost again," Danny said to his reflection.

Nothing happened.

The ghost powers were a one time thing. Shame, it would have been cool to be turn invisible.

Danny turned towards to the ghost portal to find himself inside white rings again. His white gloves and black hazmat suit appeared again.

So the ghost powers weren't a one time thing.

Danny was a ghost and a human. The portal must have changed him in some way. And now Danny's a ghost.

The idea was surreal. Danny was a ghost. He had the most painful moment in his life and the result is ghost powers.

He cringed as he remember the painful heat from before. It was like he was in a fire, a powerful one that only purpose was to melt Danny into a puddle.

And then there was some coldness. It was way too extreme, but it did help take way the pain of the burning heat.

As Danny walked over to the the portal and the power wire, he realized that he was still cold. No, he wasn't cold. It didn't feel like he just making a snow angel, but he felt off. He wasn't cold. But he knew that he wasn't at his regular temperature. He could feel it. But he wasn't cold.

It made no sense, but neither did being a ghost while still being a human, so Danny just shrugged it off.

So the portal was working now. Danny managed to kinda kill himself, but the portal was working. His parents would be glad.

Then Danny thought of the two ghosts. Was there more of them? Of course there were, there's probably millions of ghosts. It would make sense. His parents invention worked, so ghosts could cross over from their... their home and into his. Into the home of the living.

The dead coming to the living didn't seem like a good idea.

That idea and the vindictive part of Danny decided his actions. He always felt like a failure in their eyes, so it would be fair if they felt like failures for a bit. Nothing would stop them from continuing, so there would be no real harm done.

He unplugged the ghost portal.

The green entrance of the ghost portal was then replaced with the metal that was first there. Danny went back inside and felt the walls for the button he first pushed.

He found them. One green and labeled 'On' and the other 'Off' and red. Danny pressed the off one. The button stayed down and the green one came back up.

Danny went out and decided to never mention this to his parents.

After all, Danny was a ghost, or at least half a ghost, and his parents were ghost hunters.

* * *

Danny never told anyone of his powers. But he still managed to find time alone (not very difficult) to see his new powers. It was pretty cool, being able to go through things and go invisible. He's been using them in a secluded part of the park he found the summer before. Right in the middle, farther than anyone likes to go, surrounded by trees and bushes.

Perfect for practicing how to use those green globs of energy, ectoplasm, that came out of his hands. He managed to get a few trees down, though he managed to make them intangible before they touched the ground. He's got great speed as a ghost, especially when he's flying.

That's one of the reasons flying became Danny's favorite form of transportation. That, and avoiding the overly crowded bus rides to school.

Danny was flying home from another day of hitting trees. He's sure the goth in his English class would be screaming at him for hurting nature in such a way, but Danny didn't really care. Maybe he should start in case some starts to notice the thinning of trees. Well, he'll face that when it comes.

While invisible and flying, Danny's breathe turned blue again. That only happened once before, right before he fought those ghosts when he first opened the ghost portal. Then Danny spotted a few ghost birds wearing hats.

He came closer and his breathe was still blue. The large, green birds didn't notice him but rather continued talking among themselves.

Danny went visible with confusion. Ghost birds can talk and were lost.

"Aren't birds supposed to have a natural sense of direction?" asked Danny, floating right next to them.

"Ask for directions," one of the three birds insisted to another. "The boy might know. It won't hurt."

The one on the receiving side of the conversation rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll ask the ghost boy."

"Ghost boy," the bird said. It was a little creepy, talking to a ghost bird, but Danny nodded his head to the bird.

"We are looking for this man. Do you know where he is?" His claw showed him a piece of a ripped picture.

Recognition came over Danny. "Dad?"

"See!" said the bird that told the other to ask Danny. "Told you the boy will know!"

"What do you want with him?" asked Danny.

"To harm him, of course!" said the one that asked Danny.

While he was never fond of his family, far from it, he couldn't let these bird ghosts harm his father.

Nor did Danny let his parents actually see a ghost. That might cause all sorts of problems.

The ghosts grinned when Danny did. However, their grins left when Danny spoke.

"I've really wanted to try this out on a ghost."

Ectoplasm shots went towards the birds who then flew away.

A glance at the huge clock to his right told him he would still be on time for his curfew, though just by the skin of his teeth.

Danny got in just before ten with his family in the living room. He just went to sit on the couch to watch TV. Jazz was lecturing their parents again about not being a close family and his parents were eating it up. By the end, his dad made an announcement that actually had to deal with Danny.

They were going take a family trip to visit an old friend of their parents that was holding a college reunion.

* * *

**A/N: **I think this chapter answers the questions asked in the last one. It's a bit longer than the others, so that should make up for the fact it took two weeks. The chapters probably the two weeks from now on since the plot's developing. Also, you might notice the part at school was a bit rushed. That's because Sam and Tucker won't have big parts in this story. Well, be on the lookout for Sam. I had fun writing this but I think that was my first fight scene ever, though it wasn't a long one and not that good. Point out any huge plot holes (they'll be starting to pop out now) and grammatical mistakes. Review?


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews and such. Also, I said I would probably make a poll. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Thanks to Fluehatraya for looking this over for me. Hope people like this chapter and the way it goes, especially the ending. That brings up the beginning, which is in Vlad's point of view. That's a change. Point out any mistakes or anything that confuses you. Review?

* * *

Vlad took a deep breath as he grabbed the doorknob.

Everything that's been building up for the last twenty years, it's going to explode in this moment. Vlad knew it would if he didn't control himself. All of his carefully laid plans for the next day would be done and nothing would go right.

So every memory of the burning heat, the poking doctors, the lack of real human interaction, was squished into a small little bottle. The humiliation and pain he felt during those first years would have to be hidden, completely out of reach. Nothing could be brought up. The loneliness will be forgotten for the next few hours. Vlad could do that – he has to do that. Anything he gave away could and would hurt him in the long run. Everything has to be kept a secret.

So Vlad pushed those thoughts away and put on a smile while opening the door.

The Fenton family stood in front of him, Maddie and a girl in the front

"Looking as radiant as ever," Vlad said, taking a step to the side so the two could go inside his home.

Maddie did look different with her blue jumpsuit and goggles, but her glow from their college days didn't fade. Her smile reminded Vlad of the past and everything that almost had been, if it weren't for that stupid – No, this was not the time for that.

Vlad looked at the other entering to distract himself. The girl looked to be in her late teens with bright red hair, so similar to Maddie's, held back by a blue headband. She looked around the entrance hall with interest in her face. The girl with Maddie's hair had a face so similar to Jack's.

It seems that everything about the family would just remind him of all he has lost.

Vlad had to turn away before his anger got the best of him – well, it wouldn't hurt to release pieces of it here and there on the root of all the anger. Just as Vlad was about to close the door in Jack's face, he noticed another.

The fact that something escaped his eyes was shocking enough that when Jack gave him a bone-crushing hug, Vlad just returned it.

The boy was small, probably the younger of the two children. He made himself seem so tiny that it almost made sense that Vlad had missed him.

Almost. In the last years, Vlad has managed to keep track of everything in his view. A small animal here, a twitch of a businessman here, none of it went unnoticed. So the idea that anything, much less a person, could escape him made no sense.

Yet the boy managed to do just that.

He drew his attention away from the black-haired boy for a second as Jack yelled to him, "What you've been up to, Vladdie?"

"Not too much," he answered, keeping an eye on the boy as he walked into the house and closed the door.

Vlad took a step away from Jack as Maddie told him to use his inside voice. "What about you, Jack? I see you have kids now." Though Vlad was talking to Jack, he kept his attention on the small boy. It was easier for him to do that instead of concentrating on Jack or Maddie.

As much as he did love Maddie, he had to divert his attention from her. It was hard enough for Vlad to keep his temper when he acknowledged the fact that she and that oaf had kids, but to see them and hear her talk about, it would be just too much.

Or so he thought.

The heartache he felt was stampeded on when Jack and Maddie started talking about their daughter, Jazz. With the way that her parents were talking about her, it would seem as if Jazz was above human standards.

As they listed everything the child's done since she was a baby, Jazz blushed. Vlad could tell that she was used to such action taken by her parents because of the way she smiled and made no move to stop her parents from talking.

Vlad made a few attempts to interrupt Jack and Maddie, but it became obvious that there was no stopping them. He doubted that they were even paying attention to him, so he walked over to the small boy who was looking at the Packer memorabilia.

"What's your name?" Vlad asked him, stepping next to him.

The boy nearly jumped, obviously surprised by Vlad. Or, if his sister really did get all the attention, surprised by Vlad's attention.

"It's Danny," he said, looking down at his feet.

Danny – it must be short for Daniel.

Vlad took another look at Daniel and then at his parents. Jack, the man who cost him the best years of his life, made his blood boil and tested his temper. Maddie, the thought of which kept him sane during his years at the hospital, was what he craved for almost every day. But what they both did was confuse him. They still didn't notice his leave, or maybe didn't care, and continued to dote on their daughter. Neither even made a mention of their son.

"That happen a lot?" Vlad walked beside the boy as the younger looked at his collection.

"All the time," Daniel said with a certain bitterness in his voice.

An effort had to be made to not stop himself. Daniel, he was so young, how could his voice sound so pained? It sounded too much like his own when –

Jack. Vlad looked at the imbecile. During their college years he was always idiotic and oblivious to everything and probably still would be. It wouldn't surprise him if Jack ignored one of his kids.

But Maddie, sweet darling Maddie, how could she not notice? The pain in Daniel was so obvious, to the point where he, an outsider, could notice in just a few minutes.

Unless, Vlad realized as he took a closer look at the woman in the blue jumpsuit, Maddie had changed.

Maddie changed to the point where she would ignore her own child.

Something had unsettled in Vlad's stomach as he took in the force of that thought. Vlad always knew that his views on Maddie might be a tad exaggerated, but he never realized that Maddie could have changed so much. All the planning – was it worth it for a woman who he hasn't seen for twenty years, who he barely knew, _who never visited him once in the hospital?_

"So, you're a Packers fan?" asked Daniel, knocking Vlad out of his mind numbing thoughts.

Inside of focusing on all the horrible thoughts (or were they wonderful), Vlad gave the boy a smile.

"Why, yes, I am. What gave it away?"

* * *

Danny relaxed in the soft, wonderful, comfortable bed. Vlad had invited his family to stay overnight for the party tomorrow and directed them to the guest rooms.

Though Danny didn't understand why they came a day before the party, he wasn't complaining. After the past nights of sleeping on the floor with the rest of his family, the room was heaven. The bed was so soft, better than his one in his room.

Danny had his eyes closed and could feel sleep coming over him when he felt his cold breath.

His ghost sense going off caused him to sit up and open his eyes. A look around the room revealed that there were no ghosts in his room and he relaxed against his bed once again.

A ghost was nearby. Why it was in Vlad's mansion, he had no clue, but it was there. Danny didn't have a clue as to what to do. Should he tell his parents? They probably had a million weapons on them, but Danny was pretty sure they didn't know too much about ghosts. They never even met one.

His parents didn't know much about ghosts, but Danny didn't know too much either. His parents at least had theories, Danny just had his two ghost fights.

So Danny didn't have much experience with ghosts. He still had some. So he would probably be better equipped to look into the ghosts. The ones he had fought weren't that dangerous anyways.

But then, his bed was very soft.

After a good shake of his head, Danny got up and went ghost. The cold feeling covered his body again, but Danny was getting used to it. It wasn't uncomfortable to begin with, just weird.

He lifted himself off the ground so he wouldn't make any sound, as well as he loved the feeling of being weightless, before phasing through his door to see where the ghosts were.

As he examined the hallway, he realized the hallways were empty. A few minutes were spent on trying to figure out what to do until Danny decided just to float around, following the direction that made his breath colder.

It went off again after he went through another floor, but this time, he heard something.

"Plans will be held off for now, understand?" a voice said. Danny tried to figure out where he heard the voice until the voice said good.

He followed the voice to the hallway around the corner.

He couldn't see anyone in the hallway but he was near certain that the voice had been coming from there.

If it wasn't for his ghost sense, he would thought he was wrong for a moment.

"You're trespassing."

Ignoring the part of him that wanted to jump out of his skin, Danny turned around to find himself suddenly face to face with another ghost.

"Plans will be held off for now, understand," a voice said, sounding almost familiar. Danny didn't hear anything else until that same voice said good.

He was different from the other ghosts Danny has met. This ghost was actually human-looking, well, more human shaped. His pointy fangs and blue skin destroyed the imagine of a human. The weird horns made from the black hair and the silver cape didn't help either. It was not close to a regular person.

The human-shaped ghost actually shook him a little, but he gathered his wits and responded.

"I don't think you can say much. You are trespassing too." The ectoplasm was gathering in his right hand. When it became strong enough, Danny put some distance between him and the ghost before shooting it.

It went straight at the flying ghost, but a red shield formed around it. His eyes widen at the action – Danny never knew ectoplasm could be used like that.

The admiration flew out of his mind when he realized that the ghost was coming closer, and now there was fear.

Before Danny could even think of making an attempt of escape, the ghost grabbed him by his chest, trapping him.

"You think you can defeat me?" The ghost lifted Danny to his eye level so the threat would come through clearly.

It did, but it didn't stop Danny from talking.

"I was hoping so." It finally went through Danny's mind that it wasn't the best time for talking when the grip on his jumpsuit became stronger.

The ghost gave him a look over before talking again.

"I don't recognize you. Who are you?" The voice still had the same edge as it did before, making the fear in Danny become clearer.

"Danny Fenton," he stammered, tripping over his sounds. The idea of lying didn't cross his mind.

The way the ghost said his name again and the raised eyebrow made it obvious Danny should have lied.

Better late than never.

"No! You misheard!" Danny winced at how defensive he sound, not to mention loud. Still standing his ground (figuratively), he said, though at a lower volume, "I'm Danny Phantom."

The ghost had a look of doubt on his face. "Ghosts have," he gave Danny an odd look before continuing, "extremely good hearing."

"They do?" asked Danny, trying to distract the ghost and get away from the strong grip.

"No," stated the ghost, his grip unrelenting. "Not all ghosts. But I do. Tell me, Daniel _Phantom,_ how did you get out of the Ghost Zone?"

"Umm..." Danny didn't know how to come up with an explanation, especially with the red eyes staring at him. Well, he did come from the portal... "Through my-Maddie and Jack's portal!" The latter part was rushed out, hopefully covering his slip up. Maddie did start with a 'm', so maybe it went unnoticed.

"Maddie and Jack's portal, right?" asked the ghost, nothing changing in his voice or face. Maybe the ghost believed – "But the last I've heard, the portal wasn't working." Nope, the ghost didn't believe him.

Wait, how would the ghost know that the portal wasn't working? It didn't make sense. Why would the ghost even know about the portal...

The ghost looked at Danny, expecting some sort of explanation from him.

All Danny could do was fumble over words.

"Umm … well … you see, the portal is, uh, working?" Danny finished lamely, not knowing at all what to say.

Why was the ghost pushing with the questions? It didn't really matter. A ghost comes from wherever it comes from. It doesn't make a difference.

"Why do you care?" Danny finally asked with some irritation. "I'm just another ghost, like you."

He was just another ghost. He had the powers that other ghosts probably had and played around with sometimes. Just another ghost, well, half of one.

Danny was a half ghost. Then, in the middle of the ghost's growl, something finally clicked.

He was half dead.

To call himself alive would be a lie. He wasn't really alive anymore. It wasn't like he was some teenager with weird powers, he was a half ghost, half dead.

Something must have shown on his face as Danny was hit with the thought because the grip on his jumpsuit loosened. Danny back at the ghost and saw that the stern face softened and even looked apologetic.

"Daniel," he said softly, grabbing Danny's attention. When he wasn't threatening, the ghost's voice changed greatly. It almost sounded familiar.

The ghost pulled them down. When their feet touched the ground, the ghost spoke.

"I need you to trust me."

Danny jerked back, away from the the gentle hold the ghost had on him.

"Trust you?" Dannny said, followed by a chuckle. "Yeah, trust you. Why would I ever trust you?"

The ghost took a step closer to Danny. His hand took Danny's chin and made him face the ghost.

The move caused Danny to stare directly into the ghost's eyes. He couldn't break from the gaze as the ghost spoke once again.

"Trust me."

His voice was smoothing, chasing out Danny's thoughts of attack or of the fact that he's half dead. For a moment, Danny did trust him.

But then Danny realized that the eyes he was looking at were red and that this was a ghost. Ghosts were not good, that what was his parents always said.

Danny pushed himself away again, nearly tripping over his feet.

When Danny was stable on the ground, he cleared his voice and asked questions to the ghost.

"Why? There's no reason to trust you. Why do you even want me to trust you? You're just a ghost – " Danny closed his mouth suddenly, realizing his mistake a moment too late. There was no reason to trust ghosts, but Danny was supposed to be a ghost himself.

"You should trust me because …" The ghost stopped talking, staring at Danny again. He could tell something was going through the ghost's mind, a decision was being made.

"Why?" Danny pushed again, trying to interrupt the ghost's thoughts. "Is there any reason I should trust you?" Danny didn't stop, he just kept on going like that, some questions being repeated or making next to no sense. He couldn't stop anymore though, the train of thought taking over his mind. Something in his was stricken and it wasn't going to be done anytime soon.

"Because!" yelled the ghost, effectively shutting up Danny, though he still had more to say.

The ghost spoke, taking a step closer to Danny making him take a step back.

"I know."

His eyebrows went up in confusion. "Know what?"

"It was the portal, wasn't it, Daniel?" The ghost continued, ignoring the question. "There was an accident and you got caught in the middle, right? You were in agonizing pain and when you woke up, you had these powers. You could turn invisible, go through anything, even looked different. That must have been what happened."

Danny couldn't take another step back, he was against the wall. There was no thoughts of escaping though – Danny was too enthralled by the ghosts words.

The ghost was right in front of him, towering over him as Danny's eyes widened in shock and his breath stopped.

He could only ask one one question.

"How – " Danny's voice trembled, causing to start over, barely able to get it all out. "How do you know?"

The man gave a grin, his fangs becoming even more obvious. "I know, Daniel, because – "

A black ring appeared over the ghost's midsection before quickly splitting in two, going over the whole body.

The black rings disappeared and all that was left the billionaire named Vlad Masters.

Danny couldn't breath, couldn't move, as the man finished his sentence in the next second.

"– I'm the same."


End file.
